The new Hibiscus cultivar is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the inventor, Mary Louisa Butcher Hill. The objective of the breeding program was to produce new Hibiscus varieties with dwarf plant habits. The open pollination resulting in this new variety was made during 1989 at a farm belonging to the inventor in West Tisbury, Mass.
The seed parent is not absolutely identified. Seed was collected from both Hibiscus paramutabilis×syriacus ‘Tosca’ and Hibiscus paramutabilis×syriacus ‘Lohengrin’. Plants of both of these varieties were open pollinated. The pollen parent is also either Hibiscus paramutabilis×syriacus ‘Tosca’ or Hibiscus paramutabilis×syriacus ‘Lohengrin’. The new variety was identified as a potentially interesting selection in August 1997. Selection was made at the same farm in West Tisbury, Mass.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar ‘ROSINA’ was first performed in July of 2007 at the farm in West Tisbury, Mass. by vegetative soft wood cuttings. Subsequent propagation has shown that the unique features of this cultivar are stable and reproduced true to type in multiple successive generations.